Marvel Film Future and Creative Movie Pitches

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek. Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm

your host, Steve Megatron Phillips. And joining

me this episode is Mike the Birdman Dodd from

ThisWeekendGeek .net. And as always, we are here

to entertain you to fill your ear holes with

information. I don't know what else, just all

sorts of stuff that you probably shouldn't put

in your ear unless it's larger than your elbow.

Yes. Don't do a Q -tip. They actually say not

to do that on the box. It's like, what are they

for then? So we've had a kind of a light news

week, other than the fact that everybody is making

it out to be a mountain out of molehill with

Captain Marvel. Photos that dropped which while

impressive Show absolutely nothing in the film.

I mean they so mean we saw the da Samuel L Jackson,

which is cool and everything I think it would

have been neat had they had a da Tim and Clarkson

Greg as agent Colson. Yeah, I would like to see

See Agent Colson with hair. Yeah, I mean but

At least we saw the Carol Danvers costume in

the proper colors, which I know is a huge deal.

Well, they showed both photos of both. Yeah,

there was the Marvell Cree inspired colors and

then there was the red, gold and blue, which

looks really cool. Looks really, really nice

on her. Although. I still would have put forth

the argue that Rhonda Rousey would have been

a fantastic Captain Marvel, but I think Brie

Larson's got this in the bag though. Yeah, I

could see that. I'm kind of excited to see the

film just to see what they do with it. I'm not

too familiar with the character as a whole. I

don't know how familiar you are with the character.

I only know her from Avengers Earth's Mightiest

Heroes. So I don't know how accurate that interpretation

is of the character. I mean, I think Carol Danvers

is pretty cool. I like Kamala Khan as Miss Marvel.

That's the Middle Eastern Miss Marvel because

I like her costume better. But that's all I really

know about Miss Marvel is she's cosmic powered

was formerly like a Kree superhero from Captain

Mar -Vell. And she's not one with whom to fuck

with, because she'll kick your ass. And in the

X -Men TV show, Rogue stole Carol Danvers powers

because she held onto her too long and absorbed

her memories and part of her mind. But I, again,

do not know how accurate that is to the TV show

or accurate to the comics. Though back then,

those TV shows were relatively close, but they

did play at their own adaptations thereof. so

pretty much um so yeah i i'm kind of like i said

just excited to see what they do with it um it's

the first marvel character to get their own solo

film yeah it's the first female -led solo film

which i'm honestly surprised black widow didn't

get it first because if you told me we could

have gotten a jason borne like black widow and

hawkeye movie That would have been awesome. I

mean, the fact we've gotten two Ant -Man movies

surprises the hell out of me before Black Widow,

because I think taking a risk on a character

like Captain Marvel is a huge... It's a huge

risk because not many people are familiar with

the character. Then again, you can make the argument

the same thing for Black Widow. You may have

heard of her from her association with Daredevil

and stuff like that, but... To the larger group

of people like to more casual fan. I guess yeah,

and I and I'm kind of I'm kind of surprised that

black widow didn't get there her own film at

any point in that DC beat them to the punch Yeah,

cuz Wonder Woman was friggin awesome. My god.

I can't wait for Wonder Woman 19 84. Yeah, I'm

honestly surprised that DC did it right first

off and that wasn't the woman who directed Wonder

Woman. Didn't she? She did something else pretty

big back in the early 2000s, didn't she? Yeah,

I just can't remember what at the moment, but

I do want to say I want to say it was not Black

Hawk down the movie where he's disarming the

bombs and I can't think of the name of it. It's

a lot of notes. Was it Patty Jenkins who directed

it? Patty Jenkins was the director. She also

did, and I'm pulling up her IMDB page as we speak,

she did the movie Monster. She did the killing

for Netflix. She did some of Arrested Development.

She's done Exposed. She's done... Yeah, she's

not directed a whole lot. Like Wonder Woman's

by far like her biggest directive outing. But

she writes and produces, right? Yeah, she does

a lot of producing, a lot of writing. Although

a lot of her stuff goes back to like 2013. She

did like some short films in the early 2000s.

She did Monster in 2003, which I guess was like

her biggest thing back then. She wrote it and

directed it. that film. But other than that,

like she's not really had anything that high

profile. Other than some directing jobs on some

other television series. So it's Wonder Woman

was by far her biggest claim to fame next to

Monster that came out in 2003. But yeah, I mean,

I'm kind of I'm kind of surprised. Like we said,

Marvel didn't get there first, but I don't know.

I guess maybe either there's some market research

to back it up or maybe they just didn't want

to take that risk with a female led movie. But

I don't know. The fact that it's happening is

pretty awesome. And I would argue that I don't

know. There's almost a question for you right

there. Which stable from between Marvel and DC

has stronger female characters if you wanted

to make movies. I'm thinking DC you've got Wonder

Woman you got Batgirl Batwoman so you got those

two characters I guess the birds of play the

birds of prey in general Harley Quinn Help me

out here. I'm not a DC guy Well, I mean, you

could have you could have had in any number of

films. I mean, you could have had like a female

Green Lantern. You could have had although that

that would be more of a modern thing than a past

thing. But Wonder Woman is definitely one of

the most well known out of the female characters,

but you could have had. I know that they're developing

a Supergirl. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Supergirl. Yeah.

And they're they're also doing like a Birds of

Prey film. You could have done Black Canary,

you could have done Huntress, you could have

done Batgirl. There's any number of female characters

that they could have pulled from, whether hero

or villain. And it's just kind of surprising

that they haven't done anything else yet, too.

And then I'm looking at Marvel. You look at hell

out of the X -Men alone. Oh, yeah, there's tons

of X -Men's you know for rogue Dean Grey are

Phoenix you could base an entire movie around

the Phoenix Saga and well frankly not screw it

up Yeah, I mean now that they have the money

and the directing talent behind them. Yeah, there's

no there's pretty much no chance that they'd

screw it up um even other characters like from

spider -man you could get black cat i know was

rumored to get a movie for a while i think she's

still rumored to get one it's just it's not that

high priority at the moment i think it's her

and silver sable might be getting something and

i think they're both in the new spider -man game

which comes out uh by the time this episode comes

out should already be on store shelves um kind

of like a who else would be interesting From

Marvel. Well, like I always think mostly the

X -Men. There's a ton of Avengers. I don't think

Scarlet Witch could carry a movie by herself

But if you told me say if you told me there was

a Quicksilver Scarlet Witch short film or a short

I'd be down for that or If you could put if you

could somehow figure a way to put lesser Avengers

or lesser X -Men on TV, I'd be all I'd be all

over that. Because honestly, that's one thing

agents a shield never did properly was introduced

lesser known character. Sure, you'd get the absorbing

man in the form of Crusher Creel. But you never

got high profile. Okay, I mean, you had mockingbird,

who was a shield agent and you had like quake.

So there's two. And they're both not strong enough

characters to lead their own series, though I

guess you could argue Daisy slash Quake leads

Agents of Shield. But it's different at a television

show. But yeah, yeah, it's different because

you can expand that story over so many hours.

And if you need to fill it with other side characters,

you can as opposed to here's two hours, here's

the story of Hawkeye and Black Widow or here's

just a Black Widow movie because I know What

the actress's name helped me out or like Johansson

Scarlett Johansson. She can carry that she's

got the charisma. She can do it mind you She's

made some really dumb decisions last couple years

with movies. Well to be honest She's she's just

flexing the creative muscle. I think more than

anything else It's just that the films were just

poorly written via poorly written poorly directed

because I liked the look of ghosts in the shell

But it's not the adaptation that I wanted I wanted

The major and that's an anime conversation for

a different day. Um, but anyway Yeah, like I

said, definitely glad that we saw some Captain

Marvel because now we got another character in

the MCU Brie Larson I wonder how many films she's

contracted for that's the thing that I don't

think I've ever seen discussed. Nope So we'll

wait and see they're not gonna kill her They'll

keep her in the background. I mean, just like

with Paul Rudd and Ant -Man, they probably said,

OK, dude, we'll give you one movie and we'll

see how it goes. I think that's what they're

doing now at this point, because they're just

kind of feeling it out and going by story instead

of going by this this whole huge contract of,

well, we've got a quota. We got to use them.

And I think it makes it easier because then they

can renegotiate. And she may have said it more

so to renegotiate the contract after. Well, plus

also now that we have this Guardians 3 problem,

I wonder now they have the out of using Captain

Marvel as their cosmic storytelling vessel if

they need it. Yeah, and they could they could

completely, you know, rewrite the universe just

however it needs to go at this point. especially

with getting Fantastic Four and the X -Men starting

to roll into the Marvel Universe. And they've

already said that they don't plan on doing another

major crossover again like this ever or in the

next like 10 to 15 years. So this next Avengers

film I think could be it for a while. I think

that's a line of bull. I think it's a line of

bull. But yeah, we'll see some small crossovers,

but we won't see the epic. 10 -year culmination

because ultimately I actually got thinking to

this the other day now my knowledge of Marvel

is not necessarily super deep or anything, but

what storyline could you go after next in terms

of epic scale and scope because if they've done

the infinity war infinity gauntlet You can maybe

do secret invasion with the scrolls because now

they're introduced into the world But they're

supposed to do that in this next movie with Captain

Marvel or maybe you could do I don't think they'd

go back to the Civil War thing again. I don't

think they'd do that. But I've heard two different

options that sound interesting on Twitter. And

one of them was bringing in Galactus in the Silver

Server. That'd be pretty cool. Where that's the

next big bad they have to go after. That'd be

really neat. I mean just to increase the cosmic

side of Marvel to see like Fire Lord and Star

Fox and other characters like that with Galactus

the other Heralds they can introduce the other

Celestials like the living tribunal and all that

shit. Well, and really cool and then the other

thing that they could do And this is my new this

is without adding the X -Men. This is just with

Fantastic Four You could add dr. Doom Yeah Yeah,

his huge machination because he's so brilliant

that he would be a royal thorn in all of their

sides And at times he's almost near unstoppable.

I Think that would be pretty cool. Yeah, they

made dr. Doom to be this ultimately huge Cosmic

threat bad. Okay, not cosmic threat like Thanos

but a world -shattering threat Yeah, that'd be

pretty cool. And if they brought in the silver

surfer and galactus you could even bring in a

uatu the watcher i'm not even sure if i'm saying

his name right but you know the watcher um so

yeah there's some really good possibilities there

actually and if you did the x -men then you could

have the uh house of m if you really wanted to

do something neat for a movie well you could

have uh what are those aliens that uh had to

do with the phoenix saga and the tv the animated

series oh the she -ar Yeah, I wanted to say the

Tal Shiar, but I was like, that's Romulan. Yeah,

so you could have the Shiar in there. You could

adapt the Phoenix into this huge thing. You could

do House of M. You could do the Messiah Complex,

which you'd really have to lay the groundwork

there. Avengers was a... Avengers versus X -Men

would be a big combination movie, which would

be pretty kick -ass. It'd be interesting to do,

except for the fact that you'd be losing, like,

your Captain America, your Iron Man, your...

I mean, you'd have... I think Thor will be sticking

it around for a while, despite everything, just

because they reinvented him with Ragnarok. Oh,

yeah. Plus, Chris Hemsworth likes money. And

you could just tell the other characters, like,

OK, I've had my fun. It's time to do something

else now. But I think Hemsworth generally...

He digs it. He's a geek at heart. I think well

in in Downey jr. Is too But I think he's just

getting old and tired and he's just kind of like,

you know I need to go out on a high note much

like Hugh Jackman did and He's like this is it

and Chris Evans just wants to do something else

in general not that the Mack truck couldn't keep

them involved but I think he's gonna take a bailout

too. And I think Hemsworth will be the only,

him and Hulk will be the only remaining original

Avengers by the end of this. Yeah, I mean, it

will, as I babble, it'll be more than a few years

till we see a totally new Avengers team. And

then we don't know what deaths are gonna stick

around to permanent. after Infinity War, because

we don't know, could Scarlet Witch and Vision

stay dead? It's possible. It's possible because

they don't necessarily need them beyond this.

Yeah, I mean, truthfully told, if that's the

end of Wanda's story and the end of Vision's

story, it would suck. It would suck, but you

could move on with, you could bring back Sam

and War Machine real easy. I think War Machine's,

I think Don Cheadle's got a few... Movies left

it because they're gonna want to keep the Iron

Man armor around in some capacity Yeah, because

it's such an iconic look. Yeah, and and I think

that they will But there may also they may also

recast and have like somehow a time displaced

Tony Stark Involved there and and that would

be there out too. So you'd have like a you know

what? Mid 20s Tony Stark instead of you know

40s Tony Stark. Yeah, because they they they

did that with Avengers dissembled I think was

the name of the storyline and they got they got

him before and hell I just thought of another

bad guy they could fight. It's a cosmic one,

but it could be a Nihilus or Kang the Conqueror

Like you got these villain from the negative

zone and another villain who's like this time

-traveling death spot. Hell Apocalypse would

be a wicked villain to bring up. If they did

it right. Yeah, apocalypse and the X -Men, the

idea of mutants in the world. That could be really

cool because maybe after the Infinity Stones

or because I guarantee you they're going to be

destroyed and I guarantee you that the energy

displaced from the Infinity Gems touches everybody

in the universe and maybe it'll activate mutants

or something. So that's one idea they could use.

That would be genuinely cool if that kind of

happens. And then of course, I don't know if

you have anything else on this, but I was thinking

we can move to the PC aspect. Yes. So I saw this

article the other day and it kind of caught my

interest because there's a number of games that

I won't play just based on the fact that I don't

like Jump scares in my games You pussy I It's

yeah, I just don't I don't care for it much I

don't mind if I know something's coming at me.

I can hear something coming at me, but I don't

like to just be broadsided So I generally don't

play those type of games. So people have been

PC or just modding and editing enemies out of

their games entirely or editing the characters

so that they're invincible well they're non -player

you know they just don't interact with the player

so they keep on their regular motion but they

you're basically invisible to them Okay, so they

turn off their ability to actually track you.

Okay. So it just keeps moving. So like the alien

game that's out or colonial Marines. Yeah, there's

I know there's a trigger in the scripting that

you can turn that off. So I know exactly what

you're talking about. Yeah. So somebody did that

because there was I guess somebody modded it

the first time and what had happened is they

made it so that those characters just stood flat

against the wall and didn't do anything, which

somebody else was like, you know, that's kind

of crap. It should at least be moving. And so

they re -edited, created their own mod, and were

found another mod, and it basically just saw

you as an invisible person, so you're not interacting

with the characters whatsoever. So you can go

through the levels, you can play it, but as far

as being jumpscared or attacked, nothing happens.

It is almost self -defeating in some of those

games. I get it. You don't want to, like, I would

have modded it differently, like maybe up to

the lighting and in hand, like, you can hear

the sound effects, like, before you encounter

it. Because I think that that would be more helpful

than just ultimate broadsiding. But yeah, I don't

know. I don't know what your thoughts are on

it, but I personally like I would play some games

if there was like an option built into the game

experience. It depends on the game. For example,

I think a lot of atmospheres built up through

the art of the jumpscare. Now you have to do

it right. For example, in a game like, say, The

Last of Us, which is a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation

4 game, there are jumpscares in it. but part

of that is sound design where you hear the clicking

of the of them walking through the hallways or

fight trying to figure out where they are via

echo location. But I could see another game like

say, I don't know if you just wanted to unlock

secrets and say call of duty Nazi zombies. If

the enemies don't react to you, okay that that

I could see because sometimes some of those Nazi

zombie secrets are hidden and they're quite deep

and if you're constantly getting your ass kicked

it's it's a pain in the ass because I used to

play Call of Duty advanced warfare and some of

the the tricks I couldn't do because I'd be like

20 waves deep into the zombies and by then I'm

I'm tired. I can't do it. I'm running out of

ammo and it's just just just not happening. That

kind of reminds me of the the Batman Arkham games

because you're constantly getting swamped or

things constantly like re -up themselves in certain

areas and so you you may defeat a pack of thugs

in the street and then you're trying to do like

the ribbler clues all around the city and then

you're constantly getting attacked or shot at

or something. It would be nice to be able to

turn those off so that you can just focus on

the puzzles in the game instead of worrying about

both. If you could turn off certain boss encounters

that would be neat or to make some quick time

events a lot easier, but then again, you're...

I could see this being more useful for role -playing

games, especially where you're going through

random encounters, because those are the biggest

pain in the asses. The only fights you'd have

are boss fights, because if they're driving the

story, not you fighting an army of squirrels

or some bullshit. And I always think back to

Final Fantasy 3 slash 6, trying to get through

this. There's like a tower where you're fighting

Kefka, who's like the last bad guy and just...

All the enemies leading up to him are just such

a pain in the ass. Just let me fight the friggin

Joker and kick his ass. So yeah, I could see

this being a thing being useful somewhat, but

like I think honestly certain games like Aliens,

Colonial Marines. You need the jump scare. You

need the enemy involvement to make it more enjoyable.

Something like this would not work in a telltale

game, for example, because it's. point -and -click

adventure, but also at the same time there are

enemies you do have to fight somewhat but the

enemy it's designed so it's more interactive

and less jump -scary so to speak but um There's

another option too is turning off timed levels

Yes that I could see being a real big bonus because

certain Levels are just they're just a pain in

the ass and you have to you you basically have

to perfect it to make it through I've had a number

of stupid things happen. In fact, actually, I

was just playing a game the other day, actually.

I was playing a good old 360 game called Splinter

Cell Blacklist. And I'm trying to stop this chemical

from getting in the water of Chicago. And I have

10 minutes to do it. Luckily, I can clear it

nine times out of 10 with no problems. But I'm

trying to play the game in a complete stealth

mode. I don't like the fact that I'm having to

rush up. I want to be able to sneak up on my

targets and literally stalk them from the shadows.

Whereas this one, I have to run through it while

I'm stalking from the shadows. While it's a thrill

and everything, it's a pain in the ass because

if I screw up, then I got to redo it over again.

Well, then you get caught. Yeah, that and I get

caught. Hell. Metal, actually, you know, one

game that could benefit from a less aggressive

AI would be most of the Metal Gear games. Anything

involving stealth. would be really friggin useful.

Because if you just want to see the storyline

without having to worry about, you know, alert

statuses and whatnot, you could see some really

neat gameplay. But again, you're losing out on

part of the gaming experience. One battle that's

less that would be a lot less thrilling that

I can think of is from Metal Gear Solid The Phantom

Pain. You're fighting a sniper called Quiet.

And Part of her schtick is she can see you she

can hear you and You can track her down via because

she whistles and she hums Now if she wasn't reacting

to you moving around you can just pop her off

in three or four shots I don't know. I could

see the enemy modding thing, like I said, being

more useful for RPGs as opposed to action -based

games. Yeah, I could see that too. But I think

for me, I think the timing thing would be the

issue that I would use it for. Yeah. So what

are some fall gaming recommendations for people

that are looking for games this fall? Well, it's

going to be BrokeTober's coming up soon. So I

hope your wallets are ready to be bent over.

But September starting off surprisingly strong,

Destiny 2 just released its first big expansion

called The Forsaken. I haven't had a chance to

dig into that too much, but from what I've heard

from some of my peers, it's really good. It challenges,

it changes weapon balance, changes the rating

system. You feel more powerful out of the gate.

Which is neat. They've killed Well, I guess I

don't want to reveal too much but they've killed

a major character in the franchise and you're

avenging their death and You it gets you really

involved in the story, which I think destiny's

always had the potential for great storytelling

But it's always fallen somewhat short. So maybe

this will return destiny to its form Insomniac

game spider -man is phenomenal Easily the best

Spider -Man game ever created when it was first

shown off at E3 2016. It looked astounding. Now

it's finally out. There's like 30 Spider -Man

suits you can get including one that looks like

Spider -Man and his amazing friends. It's like

the cell shaded suit. It looks friggin awesome.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider comes out in like a

week. I think that's the final entry in the new

Crystal Dynamics Square Enix Tomb Raider series,

which this game looks so cool. I'm going to be

playing the hell out of that. Red Dead Redemption

comes out. Red Dead 2 rather comes out in just

over a month. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 completely

online with the new Blackout Battle Royale mode

comes out in early October. WWE 2K19 with the

rise of Daniel Bryan. I'm really looking forward

to this this year. I'm not a fan of the engine

they've been using that 2K uses. But at the same

time, it's the rise of Daniel Bryan. I'm a Daniel

Bryan mark for sure. So looking forward to seeing

how that all turns out. Battlefield 5's open

beta is happening. As of this recording, it's

open beta will have just happened. I've heard

mixed things about it so far. I've heard the

big complaint is that it seems too slow. It's

players capped at 60 players on the field, whereas

Call of Duty has 80. Which that's not necessarily

a bad thing of having less. I have the beta downloaded.

I downloaded it Tuesday night. I just haven't

had a chance to try it yet. My thing is if they're

doing less People in game for their battle royale

mode. It's likely for server Stability if I had

the gas if cod is doing 80 plus enemy AI on the

field as well I'm gonna say they'll likely have

100 by the end of the year post launch for sure

Because everybody's competing with fortnight

right now fortnight is the game to beat on the

planet And I still suck at it. But Call of Duty,

I'm good at. So we'll see what happens between

that and Battlefield 5. Actually, Battlefield

5 got delayed until middle of November, which

is a really smart move because they don't want

to be competing against COD and Red Dead Redemption

and Fallout Vault 76, which comes out in the

middle of November. It's going to be a really,

really good year to be a gamer. It's also going

to be incredibly bad on your wallet. Resident

Evil 2 comes out in January. Well, I was going

to say, as far as Battlefield's concerned, my

brother actually pre -ordered it, and then he

cancelled his pre -order because he went and

got EA All Access, which is substantially cheaper

per month. And he can play any of the games that

are on the service. So he's like so I can play

BF five. I can play like anything and not have

to really buy it. So there was more of a benefit

for him to sign up for their subscription service.

Well, I think you only get the first 10 hours.

Don't you? I think not. I think it depends on

the game. I think but you get you get the full

game. Because I have EA origins and I know. Yeah.

Because for certain games such as Battlefield,

you get a 10 hour free trial or trial and then

your progress will carry over if you decide to

purchase the full game. That's if you're not

paying for the subscription service. OK, because

I am. So, yeah, if you're paying for the subscription

service, you'll be able to play it. I think I

think you may want to tell your brother to double

check that because they did this for Star Wars

Battlefront II. He did because he wouldn't have

canceled his pre -order. OK. But yeah, that's

certain. Like I said, certain games do it, but

he's he's already looked into it. He's like,

I can play the game and I don't have to spend

any extra out of pocket. So that's that's a win

for me. I know without it, without subscription,

you can pay or play 10 hours of just about any

of the games in there. And then it converts over

when you buy the games or get the subscription

service. I know a lot of them like they'll tell

you, you know, you have both options. It's just

what one do you want to do and. I know that they

want you to get the other one because it means

they've got you on the hook line and sinker for

the rest of all the games, because you don't

actually have it on your computer for you to

use without this service. One of the other topics

that we were going to bring up was the job market.

It sucks. particularly with the fact that if

you're job hunting, and I experienced this recently

from being displaced from employment and then

getting a new employment, when you apply online,

it's kind of a double -edged sword. It kind of

sucks because it's like that old saying of, you

need experience to get the job, but you needed

the degree to get the... to get the you know

the job but you need you know experience but

you need the degree so like it's kind of like

a double -edged sword if you're just screwed

either way you go even though that's not necessarily

true when you're applying but the thing is is

like the online application markets are kind

of screwed and kind of rigged at the same time

and I say that not out of like spite or irritation

with the process I get it because you get thousands

of people slamming you with applications constantly,

but the main issue I have with it is that because

you're not physically dealing with a person,

if it doesn't meet the criteria of that specific

site or however they upload the information,

it'll boot you out or if they do happen to see

it out of the... you may be lucky if you get

an email or a phone call. And if you physically

walk into the businesses, 90 % of them will tell

you, oh yeah, you can drop that off, but you

have a better chance online. I did this recently

with a television station that I wanted to work

at, and I still want to work there. So I'm not

naming the television station, but. My whole

thing with it was I've been trying to get in

there for years. And it's down the road for me,

honestly. And that's part of what is killing

me about it. So when I was recently unemployed,

I walked in there with a resume because I'd already

applied online. And I was like, OK, this can't

hurt. And so I went in there and I handed it

to them. And they're looking at me like I'm Well,

like I'm trying to deliver pizza to the wrong

location. Like it was just kind of the most absurd

and awkward situation in the world. And so they're

like, yeah, I'll take that and give it to, you

know, and I'm like, yep, right to your trash

can. Like I just, I know where it's going. Like,

cause they told me you're better off applying

online. And so, you know, of course when you

apply online, some of them, you can't apply again.

So if say they post it in May or they post it

in June and then you apply it like June and then

it goes off and then they put it back on in like

July or August or something, and you are trying

to apply again, you can't unless it goes through

another website that you can apply through that

one. So I think overall for like some of the

positions that I know I was qualified for, I

applied probably four times through different

methods. And I've called them, I have contacted

them through social media, like just trying to

like, hey, heads up, just wondering what's going

on, blah, blah, blah. Just non -confrontational

about it. And so it's interesting to have to

deal with that situation. And not to mention

that the job market is so volatile, no matter

what industry you're in. that you're lucky to

get something with full -time or something that

pays the bills and or they want to undercut you

based on you know depending on the job not not

this particular place because I know nothing

about it but some of them want to underpay you

for the amount of work and I've seen people where

they've turned to like gig based stuff or patreon

or things like that online and to compensate

and So it's kind of interesting that this whole

thing is as big of a mess as it is when they're

looking at people like numbers, not people. One

of my friends is a librarian in Ottawa and he

was looking for jobs in Ottawa because being

a librarian, it's pretty specialized. So he found

a job position and they want you to apply for

minimum wage, which in Canada is $14. They want

you to, for a minimum wage position, have three

to four years experience, a master's degree,

and level one security clearance. For a minimum

wage, a master's degree. That's ridiculous. Oh

yeah, like I think... It's because corporations

and big business know they can take advantage

of people's desperation. You may have all the

qualifications in the world, but they know they

can devalue you because, well, they're desperate,

they'll take minimum wage and I can abuse their

hours and do whatever the hell else I bloody

feel like. As you mentioned, people are turning

towards the gig based economy of Patreons and

GoFundMe's and Kickstarters, which is fine for

now. It's gonna crash. It's gonna crash sooner

or later, because I know Patreon had a problem

earlier this summer. They're still having problems.

Yeah, they couldn't process people's payments.

I know we... It happened last week. On Terrible

Warriors, we make a couple hundred bucks a month,

but that's not enough to do it. Other people

are making thousands of dollars, tens of thousands

in some cases, to provide content, which is great

and everything. But as you said, this economy

is eventually going to crash at some point. And

I don't know when that point is going to come

that that that big tipping point. And ultimately,

job positions always come down to nepotism. It's

not it's not whether you're the most qualified

or whether it's it's who you know, not what you

know, and whether this person likes you or not,

because I myself had I've survived. being my

own boss and working for very few people over

the time because For some reason they just don't

want to hire me and I've been on disability for

a number of years due to a variety of issues

and I've always tried to Give back to society

in some way via the podcast or something else

But it's not for not for not wanting to work

and it seems like the economy doesn't want me

to work Which is kind of funny I guess now it's

kind of crappy now that I'm even more disabled,

but that's neither here nor there. That's why

I'm going to do my own Patreon and see if I'm

going to try the whole gig economy and see how

it works. I've been meaning to go that route

too. And that's I want to do that. But on the

same time, like you have to be out there enough

and have to have the following enough like you

have more of a following than I have. But I still

think it's kind of an interesting concept to

try. I don't know if it'll necessarily work for

me, which is why the new GeekCast radio I'm working

on, I'm working on a subscription -based feature

that's basically what you would get with Patreon,

except for the fact that it's going towards the

site, and then we create content, and it's behind

a paywall. On the site instead of having to deal

with a third party It as a whole just because

I I don't have any faith in any of these third

party entities at this point Because it seems

like they're either a constantly changing the

rules or having a hard time paying people I Will

say this be very careful because your contents

been free for so long be very, very leery of

putting it behind a paywall. No, I would never

put any of the content we're currently producing

or have produced in the past behind a paywall.

It would be brand new content, like certain brand

new content that would be devised specifically

for the paywall. That's where I would take advantage

of that. Yeah, like for my example once what

I'm doing is literally throwing it back to the

1300s or the medieval times I'm at least basically

gonna be a bard for hire People are looking for

dungeon masters and storytellers to run D &D

games because I can't find people to play with

so People have said Mike if I wanted to hire

you how much would it cost? I'm like frig man.

I don't know Um, so i'm gonna run my own patreon

called bard for hire bard lfg So bard looking

for group. I already have an artist working on

it now. I've got a payment structure kind of

worked out um, I don't expect to be super successful

off the hop but um You know what? It's I gotta

find a way to supplement my income. It's a passion

and um It's got to be a way to survive in this

new economy because this economy sucks. It does.

There are so many obstacles in your way. Now,

of course, there's people that will say, pull

yourself up by your bootstraps and do what you

can. And I think that's what we're both trying

to do. We're both trying to make make it work

using the skills and assets that we currently

have. Like, for example, I'll never put twig

behind a paywall because I believe news should

be free. That's my That's my ethics and journalism

quote of the day. The information yearns to be

free. But if you want me to tell you a story

how you fought Cthulhu and a dragon, you got

to pay the bard his silver for his time. I'm

going to be strumming a lute in the corner with

a stupid feather in my hat. I will be ye old

bard. But yeah, I don't know. In this economy,

I don't like the way it's going. Despite that

all the economy has never been better. No, there

are more temporary jobs and more part -time jobs.

There are no full -time jobs with with benefits

now It's because a friend of mine actually found

out today. She's been This phrase is interesting.

She's being hired on as a full -time non -permanent

temp So she has work until January, but they

can cut her loose at any time so they don't have

to pay her benefits the second she gets close

to the time of Benefits and anything else guaranteed

they'll cut her loose Because that's the way

corporations work man, and it sucks corporations

are not there to benefit you they're there to

make money and unfortunately being being a good

person and money often at least from what I've

seen, don't often go hand in hand. Sometimes

they do. Sometimes I'm wrong on this. And I love

it when I am wrong. But for the vast majority,

the CEO needs another yacht for some reason.

And Mr. Joe working the assembly line needs to

get more food stamps. But hey, I am not an economist.

I do not understand. I'm sure someone out there

is yelling at me and saying, Mike, you're wrong.

It's capitalism, the free market. Yeah, it's

worked out real well for us average schmucks.

Oh, yeah. But maybe it has who knows? Yeah, so

I'm just kind of in that boat to just trying

to kind of figure out where where things go.

And that's why I find it funny that I when I

see these articles of like, oh, it's a it's a

employee market. It's a you know, why so many

people are quitting their jobs and blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. But it's actually not. Yeah,

it's not as truthful or not representative of

the larger market. And a lot of like there are

people, a lot of my friends are never going to

own homes, are never going to be anything but

renters always living from paycheck to paycheck.

And it's not because they're not skilled, not

because they're not hard working. It's just the

jobs or the market isn't there. And I wonder

when things are going to change. And I don't

know how they're going to change because I do

not understand the math of it. And I'm sure somebody

out there has a great theory as to how things

are going to change. And you know what? I hope

you're right. I hope things change. I hope there's

two cars in every garage and nobody ever goes

hungry. See, I'm a little bit in the middle of

that boat and I would say that because I do have

two cars in the garage and I do have a house.

But if I were having to look right now, that

would not be the case. Yeah, a lot of my friends

who work in media live in little shitty apartments

in Toronto because the average house price in

Toronto is $700 ,000 for what is essentially

a rat hole. Even the place where I live right

now, Guelph, Ontario, the housing prices are

going up. Rent is ridiculous here. The fact that

we found a good place that isn't full of cockroaches

and drug dealers is astounding. And the fact

that it's handicap accessible somewhat is amazing.

So I don't know. It's an interesting time to

say the very least. And I'm willing to sing for

my supper. if that's what it takes. Yeah. And

see, I wouldn't mind even volunteering on like

having some kind of a contract thing of just,

you know, volunteering to learn what or get them

to know me kind of thing. And one of these stations

or whatever, just so that I can get my foot in

the door and then kind of figure out what what

their need is and how I may best be able to fill

that. to get noticed in the first place. But

in the meantime, I'm doing something I'm not

necessarily passionate about, but it pays the

bills. So I'm completely happy for that. But

yeah. I'm happy getting some supplemental income

to my disability. And I'm more than happy to

make other people happy. Because ultimately,

I want to tell stories. And if that means I get

to be the bard of old, then I'm willing to wear

a stupid hat with a feather in it. Because I

think that is a weird, weird mental image. Yep,

definitely a weird, weird mental image. So look

forward to that launch in October, I hope. Anyway,

the idea is I'm going to launch my Patreon before

the end of the year, but I'm not going to do

it unless I'm doing it right. Because that's

a lot of problems when people in the gig based

economy, they get the idea, oh, I'm going to

launch a Patreon and I'm going to be super successful

and people are going to donate. Not always, man.

If your content doesn't justify it, it's not

because you're not talented. either people haven't

discussed it's so funny lightning has to strike

twice with you you have to have the right amount

of talent to go with it and people have to find

you and Then you have to maintain that level

of energy and quality over time and for some

people that can be daunting I've seen people

who have been very successful on patreon thousands

of dollars a month and they just disappeared

overnight and it's a cautionary tale man just

because you get the money unless you're willing

to keep up with the content and keep up with

uh your promises that you've made you can back

yourself into quite the little corner and uh

i've got stories to tell you off air my friend

i've got stories so i think um as as we're running

out of time here uh we'll do the creative film

okay what do we got okay so going to start off

with The genre, which is made for TV. Okay. All

right. All right. Let's say we're being made

by the Disney Channel. So we've got some real

money here. Okay. The descriptor, blind. Okay.

This is going to go all kinds of places. I have

a feeling. Oh, boy. Hero is the janitor. Okay.

So blind janitor on the Disney Channel. Which

which is going to be hilarious on its own just

for the fact that it's he's supposed to clean

the building And Okay, um He's traveling across

the country to compete in a video game tournament

Okay, so here is my pitch for this. So this is

a busy gentle movie through the magic of Disney.

We've gone back in time It is the year 1994 and

the blind janitor is Ernest P Whirl Okay, I can

see this so it's gonna be Ernest goes to video

land and He's traveling across the country Raising

money by cleaning the schools or sorry, by cleaning

up various locations so he can get more quarters

to play video games. And eventually, he's going

to go to Video Armageddon, which is the sequel

to The Wizard. So this is a sequel, a made -for

-TV sequel to The Wizard involving Ernest. I

just really wanted to put Jim Varney in something,

truthfully. Because you need a physical comedy

guy. I could definitely see that or just goes

to video are the game are we getting made the

sequel. It would be amazing because it would

be cheesy. There'd be singing and dancing numbers

and you would get some random pop band and somehow

David Hasselhoff shows up. Very specific and

then you get a lot of his impressions in the

thing. Exactly. This movie can't fail because

it's made for TV, so it doesn't matter. Okay.

This next one, Beach Party. Okay. So 1960s. Okay.

Oh, man. Gidget finds the Terminator. Dimwitted.

Okay. So still with the 1960s. oh man Elvis impersonator

oh my god this is the 60s holy shit oh man this

no way um what did you get getting the band back

together for a reunion tour okay so this is a

Beach Boys 1960s biopic set during then, but

it seemed to the eyes of one of their groupies.

So a male and she, uh, a male and female bimbos.

So both are very dim -witted. A guy's like a

surfer dude and you get a bimbo girl. They're

following around the beach boys and they decide

to break up. And they're all hanging out down

at the beach party. I'll be like, Oh, dude, it's

a groovy good time. And they want to try to get

the band back together because it's the beach

boys. So ultimately somebody wants to shut down

their youth center or the man is harsh and on

their groove. And it has to happen at a beach

in Southern California before a big surfing competition

or something. And they only have two days to

get the band back together or something. Okay.

So that's my pitch. It sounds it sounds very

much like a a 60s film anyway. Yes, with special

appearances by Gidget, Jerry Lewis, Elvis, because

an Elvis impersonator has to show up. So literally,

it's Elvis playing an Elvis impersonator. And

people are like, man, you're really good music.

I know. So yeah, so he secretly plays the Obi

-Wan Kenobi type character who helps the two

bimbos or the two dimwitted people get the band

back together. So Elvis can go back to blue Hawaii

or something, or maybe he has to go back to the

hard rock jail or something. I don't know. That's

about as far as I got with this plot. So yeah,

there you go. There's always one turd in the

bunch. Exactly. This is the one Okay Do one last

one. Okay. This one's where you're gonna excel.

All right zombie Okay on the edge. All right

That's the descriptor Let's pull a random card

unpaid intern it sounds like a current movie

actually, okay and Okay Getting a bounty hunter

or becoming a bounty hunter to pay off student

loans Okay, so this unpaid intern has to become

a bounty hunter at the end of the world the zombie

apocalypse has hit but Zombies are more or less

contained So the bounty hunter this this unpaid

intern decides he doesn't want to work for Zomcom

forever And he decides okay. I've got to put

myself through school. I want to be a beautician

or something stupid like he wants to he wants

to work with flowers wants to be a florist but

he's got to go to school for that so he takes

up bounty hunting zombies in a city and he collects

zombie heads so it's an on it's an edge of your

seat action comedy so i picture um i'm gonna

go back to the zombie genre And I'm going to

pick up Nicholas Hout, who played Beast in X

-Men First Class, but was also in the zombie

movie Warm Bodies. Working with him as his friend

and confidant, who will eventually die in the

movie, very unfortunately, is Michael Cera. The

object of his affection, Emma Stone. OK. This

is my movie. Zombie school, 90210. Exactly. I'm

trying to think of a clever name for it. Zombie

one. I like the idea of zombie school. Maybe

class of the dead or something like that. I don't

know. Intern of the dead. So there you go. Intern

of the dead. There you go with Michael, Sarah,

Nick. Nicholas Howe and Emma Stone. The previous

film is becoming Elvis. Exactly. This would be

an awesome doubleheader back in the day. Hell,

you can even make this in the 1970s and do it

up as like, or sorry, do this in like the late

80s and do it up as like a parody film in the

same genre as Evil Dead, but more stupid. So

you could pull this off in the eighties, not

so much in the nineties, but in the late eighties

or now you could pull this, this movie off. Yeah.

I could definitely see that actually. Let's do

one more for fun. One more. Okay. I'm warmed

up. You know what's funny? If we had double D,

these would make perfect like pieces for, uh,

the, uh, like what he used to do. Oh yeah. He

could write movie trailers around this real easy.

Okay, so I want to see that zombie school That

could be really funny Let's write a skit the

bounty hunting zombie hunter Kung Fu, okay Now

they all have to be like their lip sync has to

be totally off though. Okay, so we're looking

like Shaw Brothers, okay It's just gonna be funny

because it's gonna be totally off. All right

Super powered. Okay. Almost sounds like Kung

Pao so far. All right. Fist of the... Yeah. Taxi

driver for the hero. Okay. And then our plot.

Let's see what we got here. Dealing with crazy

new next door neighbors next door. Okay. Jackie

Chan, of course, early in his career. And we've

got to get Jimmy Fallon as the taxi driver. Like,

okay, his in his in learning like his his his

student taxi driver. Oh, and his next door neighbor

has to be it's going to be a crazy black family.

And there's a reason for this. I want Cedric

the entertainer. I want Chris Tucker. and Chris

Rock as brothers, and Ice Cube as the neighbor

who lives beside them. Okay, I can see that.

So you're gonna have this crazy, wacky, basically

East meets extreme West. So picture the movie

Friday crossed with like Drunken Master. So Jackie

Chan is a taxi driver who discovers he is the

embodiment of the Monkey King. so he can just

do these awesome kung fu moves all the time.

However, he gets booted out of China for whatever

he gets scared out of China and he has to come

to the United States and he asked to live in

South Central Los Angeles. He lives with Jimmy

Fallon. He lives with Jimmy Fallon between Ice

-T, Cedric the Entertainer and Chris Rock and

Chris Tucker. Hilarity ensues. They fight a local

drug dealer. who then turns out to be in league

with the demon from Big Trouble in Little China,

Lo Pan. And his name is Captain Kangaroo. Yes.

This is the movie. This is what I picture. So

it's almost like Jackie Chan's Big Trouble in

Little China with Friday. And this could be actually

really awesome, if done right. Jackie Chan's

Night Out. Oh, man. Just be picturing ice cube

and Chris Tucker together again working with

Jackie Chan Man, this could be really really

friggin cool. I Just want to see Jackie Chan

fight Lopan but anyway It would be hilarious

actually uh So is there do you want to do another

one or you are we one more one more one more?

Okay. All right. We're doing lightning round

all right action comedy Okay. Almost kind of

what we did. World famous. Okay. Let's see what

we got here. Aliens. Okay. And inheriting a malfunctioning

robot from an eccentric uncle. Okay, so they

have to be world famous aliens. Who are the most

famous aliens you know? Optimus Prime. No. Thinking

here. Famous aliens. I don't know. I'm trying

to think of aliens that aren't scary. Well, you

could turn the aliens and unscary by giving them

like human characteristics, human characteristics

like you could give like you could have the predator

like when he takes off his like stuff, just having

to talk like, OK, so here we go. Like kind of

like like Stewie or something like the most awkward

voice in the world. I'm looking around my room

to see if I can find any aliens. I'm looking

around here. OK, all right. World famous aliens.

So a family of Wookiees. Okay, this is a Star

Wars movie. It's a made for TV movie. And the

aliens, the Wookiees inherit a robot, a droid

from their crazy Uncle Luke. Um, and hilarity

ensues. Very simple movie. Very simple, but it

works. This could be an episode of levels. It's

a buddy cop movie between Chewbacca and R2D2.

Who are very rarely teamed up. Yeah, and both

of them are snarky and like to be bossy. See,

it works on so many different levels. There we

go. We've just made a Star Wars movie. Where's

my money, Rian Johnson? Yes. Pay us. Pay us now.

So there we go. That's what we have for the create

a movie this week. I really like this segment,

by the way. I do too, because it's so totally

random just based on cards. I never thought I'd

get to mention Gidget, Chewbacca, and Jackie

Chan in the same 15 minute span. Never thought

that would ever happen. I would have never seen

that coming either. In earnest. In earnest, yes.

What would really throw it over the edge is if

Ernest had to be in all five films I Could make

it work I'm trying to I'm trying to figure out

how Give Chewbacca Ernest voice I'm trying Ernest

is actually Ernest is a is the companion of Doctor

Who and the doctors involved in each one of these

adventures in some capacity It's a different

world that the doctor has to go into. So there

we go. The doctor Jackie Chan and Ernest P Worrell

work together to save the to save the Beach Boys

and They have to help a zombie hunting intern

in the future Who secretly has to deal with ice

cube and his rowdy neighbors? Coming this fall

the most awkward Franchise you would ever imagine

that you didn't know you needed. Only on the

Disney Channel. Yeah. And then they do the little

the little thing where they're drawing the mouse

ears in the corner of the screen. See all these

grown men doing that. Like this could happen,

folks. This is our goal. This is our dream. It's

almost like when Fox predicted Disney buying

something like decades ago. Wouldn't that be

weird if afterward dead this actually happens?

It would it would not surprise me Because although

they would have a hard time because most of these

people are gone, but well not most but you know

like five but But still we have the advent of

computer technology so we can bring them back

in some capacity. We will clone them digitally

So I hope you guys like that segment. I hope

that you get something interesting. If there's

one that you would like us to expand or like

expand upon more in a future episode and kind

of, you know, make it more fleshed out. Maybe

each week, one that gets the most votes or gets

talked about on Twitter or Facebook or wherever,

we make a really shitty Photoshop poster. That

would work that would that would be something

I would be down for just to kind of see what

happens I I would be down for that because I

did the the 8 -bit heroes last week So this week

you tell us what's gonna be? Created yes, so

and then we'll reveal the the winner on the next

show of who chose the or more So not who but

which movie won? and we'll put it in the show

poll together right after I get this online.

So anyway, guys, hopefully you've enjoyed this

episode of Aldergeek as we've covered everything

from Captain Marvel, the job economy, PC, video

game, modding, and... some of our thoughts thereof.

And of course, the insanity that is Steve's movie

game. As always, you can interact with us on

Facebook and Twitter. If you want to get a hold

of me on Twitter, I am at Birdman Dodd and Instagram

and Facebook. And Steve, if they want to find

you, you are. You can get a hold of me on the

Twitter just at SCP 21 or at Altered Geeks. So

until next time, get altered, get geeky with

the Altered Geeks. Gidget and Ernest together

again.